If a proposal by the County Liquor and Licensing Board is adopted and passed by the County Assembly into law Nairobi County will have only 3, 000 bars denting a huge blow to career drunkards.
The proposal is contained in a policy being prepared by the board and is set to be presented to the Assembly in two months time.
Appearing before a County Assembly Budget and Appropriation committee on Monday, Nairobi County deputy director of liquor licensing Hesbon Agwena said that the policy is aimed at reining on the high number of bars mushrooming in the county.
The deputy director said in November, 2014, when the Board came into operation, only 7, 200 bars were licensed by the county but a census carried thereafter revealed high numbers of such outlets in the county.
He said that according to a 2016 census report, Nairobi had 12, 500 bars with most of them operating illegally in the informal settlements without license.
“We are coming up with a policy, which is currently before the Board, that will inform the number of bars that Nairobi should have, location, distance between one another and even enforcement.
We are looking at scaling down the number to 3, 000 bars only in Nairobi. Eldoret for example has only 800 bars,” said Mr Agwena.
In 2017/2018 financial year, City Hall collected Sh254 million in annual revenue from only 5, 000 bars against a target of 7,000 bars. This year, Sh124 million has been collected so far from 3, 900 bars with the target being 4, 800 bars before the end of the financial year in June.